Parking hike 'could help cut congestion

 

A TRANSPORT expert has called on the city council to raise car parking charges in Plymouth to encourage more people to take the bus. However, Prof John Shaw rejected the idea of introducing the controversial congestion charge for the city

Parking hike 'could help cut congestion

Apparently Plymouth Sutton has been ranked as the ninth most congested constituency in the country - although that is pretty much a meaningless statistic if you ask me!

Prof Shaw also states that Plymouth bus fares are 'very expensive' but the news article does not go on to say how he backs this up - are fares really more expensive down here than elsewhere?

The City Council has already rejected similar please to raise parking fees to promote higher bus usage so I don't see this as a starter. Ironically the one thing that would promote bus usage, congestion charging, is also rejected by the prof. 


(Image by The Repairman)

Derriford Upgrade

(From Brian George Collection - Photographer unknown)

A very quiet Derriford Hospital way back in February 1989 with Citybus Atlantean 155 in the Armada 400 livery. Derriford is a lot busier now and this section of road way is of course one way traffic these days. There are a lot more buses serving the hospital now with Derriford coming second only to Royal Parade in terms of bus traffic. My view on the bus stopping arrangements at Derriford have been well covered over the years on this blog, but things should improve very shortly. With the new road layout and improved traffic flow and drop off parking in this area that has come into force over the past couple of months attention is now being turned to the bus stops themselves. New bus stop shelters are being installed and they will at last feature Real Time Info which will be welcomed by passengers. The work is due to start in November and will cause a certain amount of disruption while in progress, but I am sure the pain will be worth it!
To end with we have another Citybus Atlantean in another special livery, this time an advert for Thomson Local in the other bus stop, now of course the Taxi Rank.

North cross is best site for bus terminus - Discuss!

THE bus station at Bretonside should be moved to North Cross roundabout, next to the main Plymouth rail station, says architect David Mackay. The sunken centre of the roundabout could be covered over with a landscaped roof which pedestrians would walk across to reach Armada Way and the city centre, the Barcelona architect said.

North cross is best site for bus terminus

MMM...

Mackays idea is certainly one which should be looked at as it is clear he has put some thought into it and it is fairly close to both the City Centre and the Railway Station, although probably not close enough to either to be of much benefit! Space wise it might, with very clever planning be big enough for the main bus stops and possibly National Express services although its hard to see how this could be achieved just looking at this site from above like this. This whole area is pretty much wasted space as it stands at the moment.
Personally I dont think this will happen. Plymouth desperately needs a new bus station but I have yet to see a better place for it than the current Bretonside site. Drakes Circus was a missed opportunity in this regard as something imaginative could have been sorted out then, but it wasnt to be. There could be possibilities down around the Colin Campbell Court end of the City Centre which is in need of major development?

Failed.

If you ever visit my penguin Food blog you will recognise the style of image above and also my opinions on the current political leaders. I do usually keep them very separate from Plymothian Transit but sometimes there is a crossover.
Ten years of government transport policy has been dismissed as "a big disappointment" by a team of academics from Glasgow and Plymouth universities

.

The new book from the academics outlines the areas in which they say the government has failed:

 

• Traffic congestion is worse than a decade ago

• The investment needs of the railways have been almost completely ignored, in particular to increase capacity

• Bus services in most of the UK have remained poor, especially in comparison with European rivals

• Tram schemes have been abandoned, despite proving effective at getting motorists out of their cars

• Walking and cycling have been largely neglected

• The government is afraid of addressing the environmental impact of aviation

• Transport carbon emissions continue to rise.

Prof Shaw said: "Our detailed analysis of Labour's transport policies shows that they have been a big disappointment – at best a missed opportunity. It's a shame because the government came in with the right intentions but have done very little to promote meaningful change." More

Citybus are talking to you

Well at least they will be if you are reading your bus tickets:

Its the little bit after "Issued subject to Citybus conditions" that they are now beginning to use for publicity and general announcements. Timetable and fare changes will be the obvious ones I guess. It has to be said that not many passengers are likely to notice as I don't suppose that many actually bother to look at their tickets, but as another way of getting attention even if it only attracts a few

readers then it has worked. I am not sure if these will be just general notices that will appear on all tickets or if they can be targeted to certain routes, or even passengers which could be useful. The message on this ticket to the left is one that will be welcomed by many passengers! As a certain supermarket would say: Every Little helps!

Plymouth gets new 20mph zones and more yellow lines

 
©Abulic Monkey (Flickr)

 

THREE Plymouth schools are to have 20mph zones enforced on roads outside their gates, according to the city council's cabinet member for transport. And a raft of new double and single yellow lines are to be painted in 50 city locations. Cllr Kevin Wigens said that Estover Community College, Notre Dame School in Derriford and Knowle Primary School in West Park will each have a 20mph speed limit implemented outside their doors.

Plymouth gets new 20mph zones and more yellow lines

Sunday Best: FJY914E

©Renown (More...)

Another shot from my earlier, and even less competent days of photography! I've a couple of hundred shots taken with this old camera which I didn't really know how to use. I now hope the subject matter partly justifies the poor quality. This is a pic. taken in Plymouth during the summer of 1976 whilst on holiday in Cornwall with a school friend's family. It depicts two of the Municipal fleet's large and well kept fleet of Leyland Atlanteans. FJY 914E, an MCW bodied example undergoing a crew change is about to be overtaken by an older more traditionally styled MCW bodied open-top.. itself pursued by one of their short lived Nationals. The photo was I think taken above Bretonside bus station which is on a lower level to our right.

Awarding

The shortlist for the UK Bus Awards 2008 have been announced (CLICK HERE). The operator awards lists contain most of the regular contenders including one from our neck of the woods which wont be a surprise to many people:

Not actually typical of their fleet, but its Western Greyhound once again.
You have to work your way down the Technical awards section of the page before you get anything else remotely local:

The Bus in the Countryside

• City & County of Swansea Gower Explorer

• First Devon & Cornwall Service 41 - Wheal to Coast

• New Forest Tour Partnership New Forest Tour

• Stagecoach in Oxfordshire Route 20

• Telford & Wrekin Council The Gorge Connect

  
  

Then we have

The Centrebus Young Manager of the year contenders including:
Tony Simmons  Stagecoach Devon

Shame there is not so much local interest this year as there has been in the past. There is plenty of good work going on with local operators and the local authorities.

ps: Woops - this post was due last night - but it seems I only pressed 'save draft' rather than 'Publish!'

Vandals attack string of bus shelters

 

VANDALS have smashed up several bus shelters in the past week, causing more than a thousand pounds worth of damage

Vandals attack string of bus shelters

 

Once again its Estover and Leigham where this sort of thing seems all to regular.

Oh what a circus!

Citybus are changing the route into the City centre for some of their routes as from 23rd November.

Why the changes?

Plymouth Citybus experienced a period of very poor performance during the run up to Christmas 2007. This was caused by traffic congestion at Charles Church and Drake Circus in addition to other locations where congestion was and continues to be problematic including Derriford around the George junction interchange, Prince Rock, the top of Victoria Road at the junction with the A38 slip road, Manadon roundabout, Peverell junctions, Stoke Village and Transit Way.

This year in addition to those busy areas, traffic will be under severe pressure in Devonport due to extensive gas works

Although Plymouth City Council have made some improvements to Charles Cross roundabout, which has improved the flow of public transport around Charles Church we continue to work closely with the hard working Public Transport team at Plymouth City Council to find solutions to the other congestion areas in the city.
We hope that funding will be approved for the Prince Rock road improvements scheme, which if successfully delivered should see a substantial improvement in public transport operations.

However, the situation at the junction with Drake Circus and North Hill is now very serious. We continue to experience considerable delays to bus services on approach to the City Centre and on a large number of occasions have diverted services away from Drake Circus.

We understand that these changes implemented will cause some inconvenience. We apologise profusely but believe that if these alterations are not made it will be almost impossible to avoid a repeat of last years poor performance.

Over the Christmas period Plymouth Citybus will be conducting an extensive analysis to ascertain if our customers would wish the above services to return to the pre November 23rd operations when City Centre congestion levels have eased.

Plymouth Citybus would therefore welcome any comments in respect of the changes. Comments can be sent either by email to peter.oliver@plymouthbus.co.uk, or by post to: Peter Oliver, Commercial Manager, Plymouth Citybus, Milehouse, Plymouth. PL3 4AA.

Whilst we will be unable to respond to every letter and email we give a commitment that the comments received during the period of our analysis will be key factors when decisions are reached as to which services will return to pre 23rd November operations once traffic congestion around Drake Circus has been reduced.

Once again, Plymouth Citybus apologies for any inconvenience experienced and can only reiterate that these changes are what we feel, to be in the interest of our passengers.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our passengers and will be grateful for your response to our actions. All comments will be used to assist in our route analysis after the holiday period. 

 

What changes?

Last Christmas due to the immense success of the Drake Circus Shopping Mall Plymouth Citybus experienced severe operational difficulties. This was due to the natural increase in traffic and pedestrian flow in the vicinity of the precinct. On analysis, in order to avoid a repeat and in the interest of our passengers we have decided to implement the following changes to our network from the 23rd November 2008:

Service 23/D and Service 24. To change the inbound route of these services from Charles Cross roundabout to operate direct via Exeter Street Viaduct to Royal Parade using Derry’s Cross as the bus turn around point. Inbound services withdrawn from Charles Street, Mayflower Street, Western Approach and Union Street To change the outbound route of these services to operate from Exeter Street Viaduct via Charles Cross roundabout and Ebrington Street to Tothill Road as opposed to Exeter Street and Cattedown roundabout to Tothill Road. Outbound services withdrawn from Exeter Street
Service 21/A/X21, Service 51/A/D & Service 50/A. To change the inbound route of these services from Charles Cross roundabout to operate direct via Exeter Street Viaduct to Royal Parade using Derry’s Cross roundabout as the bus turn around point. Inbound services withdrawn from Charles Street, Mayflower Street, Western Approach and Union Street
Service 28/A/B Service 35 Service 61, Service 62/A. To change the inbound route of these services from Mutley Plain to operate from Mutley Plain via North Road East , Western Approach and Union Street to Royal Parade. Inbound services withdrawn from North Hill and Mayflower Street, no changes to outbound services.
Service 16/B. To change the inbound route of this service from North Cross Roundabout to operate direct via Western Approach and Union Street  to Royal Parade. Inbound service withdrawn from Mayflower Street Services 43, Service 43A, Service 43B & Service 29. To change the inbound route of these services from North Cross Roundabout to operate direct via Western Approach and Union Street  to Royal Parade. Services withdrawn from Coburg Street, Charles Street and Exeter Street Viaduct.

 

I am very impressed with Citybus for getting this information out in plenty of time and with such a detailed explanation why the changes are being made. Certainly anybody who has been into the City Centre knows the problems with traffic in the Drake Circus area. The maps shown above are being printed and will be displayed in bus stops all across the City which should help save any confusion although I believe that some of these re-routings already happen at times of severe congestion so many passengers will be aware of the routes already. The maps are nice and clear and easy to understand too which is always a bonus.
From a personal view point I prefer the new route of the 50 into town as most of the time Bretonside is my first port of call but I am probably not your average passenger! If it works and saves time and helps the buses keep closer to their timetables then it all has to be a good idea. Note that not all Citybus routes are being altered yet, I guess this is just hoping that a reduced number of buses in the area might help the remaining services get through?

Bridge over the Plym

©IMHILL (Flickr Blog this)
Came across this fantastic HDR photo of the little bridge over the Plym on Flickr. I think it really captures the scene brilliantly and had to be shared here. Click here for more of his Plymouth photos. Superb!

ps. There may well be interruptions to normal service here over the next week or so as I have finally ordered the new PC which should arrive on Sunday. I will then have a lot of work trying to get the new PC set up and working out what files to copy across from the old one!

At last!

I have yet to get my hands on a copy but the rumours I have heard are true. There is a new single timetable book for Plymouth bus services again, after a gap of many years with just area booklets. Well done to all involved for getting everything back into a single book. Now all I need to do is get hold of one...

A little bit of Plymouth in Keighley

©Ian Roberts (Coradia1000) Former Plymouth Atlantean WJY758 now poses as Keighley number 59 and looks very well for it.
For more of Ians photos with lots of Atlanteans on show click here

Sunday Best: JJY633G

©Sou'Wester More
Looking a lot more modern than the Atlanteans before this batch featured the small windscreen - later buses looked even better.

Olympians' parade

 

 

Olympians' parade was the headline in the news article and I started to get excited. Sadly it wasn't a City wide recognition of the Leyland Olympian and the long term service they have given the City. Something to do with sports people apparently.

Not all is lost though as the 1st November will see an open top bus tour through the City Centre with these sporty types onboard. Will the organisers be smart enough to have their Olympians travel onboard an Olympian?

Heading East

First Group are in the process of moving a lot of buses around their fleets at the moment with a large batch of Volvo B7RLE Wright single deckers being transferred out from Manchester to various fleets including Devon and Cornwall. This move in turn is also setting off other movements with a number of Dennis Darts leaving the South West and heading off towards Essex. Most of these are the SN05 batch 42924-34 with all but the first three displaced by the Manchester Volvos from the Cornish 14/18 routes. 42924-6 are Plymouth based and usually appeared on the Park and Ride PR2 although as they are standard Barbie liveried buses they can appear on any route. The other bus leaving Cornwall for Essex is 42430 P430ORL. It seems that these are expected in Essex within the next few weeks. As always with First Group - plans can change!

Half price for steam train 'feast

 
(Photo from Ahisgett (Flickr  under Creative commons) More photos and video here)

HALF-PRICE fares are being offered on the award-winning South Devon Railway on the weekend of Saturday November 1 and Sunday November 2. It marks the end of the railway's 17th successful summer season of running steam trains

More details here on their own web site.

Mapping the past in the present day

I am constantly on the look out for new tools on the Internet to use for research and just general mucking about. One such service I have come across is Where is the path, which gives you various images from 'today' alongside old OS maps.
This is the effect you get when looking at an area based on Milehouse:

 

On the left we see the old OS map which can be zoomed in and out, although the quality suffers on some maps when you zoom in too much, and on the right we see the present day image. In this case I am using OS satellite imagery. You can also see the same areas in Google Earth (if you have the plug in installed) of plain Google Maps or satellite image, or a few other maps. The blue square on the left is the area covered by the image on the right and also the blue cross hatch matches where you place your cursor on the new image. This is useful when tracking old lanes against the modern landscape.

Thanks to the less than helpful attitude of OS there is a strict limit to the number of times the service can be called upon during the day, but other than that this is a great way of discovering the past by looking on the Internet. If this is what can be put together by one individual working within the confines of extremely limiting constraints, you can only begin to imagine what OS could do if they put their minds to it, or if they just allowed people better access to the information, which lets not forget, has been paid for by taxpayers over the years!

Drake Circus is eighth ugliest building in UK

 

PLYMOUTH'S Drake Circus has been named as the eighth ugliest building in the country in a new survey.

Drake Circus is eighth ugliest building in UK

Wow! What an accolade! Well done to Plymouth for achieving this. OK maybe a bit too sarcastic, but actually I have to say this is really unfair. From certain angles it does look a bit off and I would never described it as a beautiful building, but from some angles it is quite stunning. As a backdrop to bus photographs down in Bretonside Bus Station is a lot better than the hideous car park that used to be there. Indeed the Charles Cross section is by far the best looking corner of the building. For people who feel its not an appropriate edifice sitting alongside Charles Church you only have to look at the other buildings that surround the Church - Charles Cross Police station and of course the architectural gem that is Staples.
Picture left is  ©AMRPhotography2008 (Flickr Blog this)
More of his photos here - excellent collection

This one demonstrating the view from Bretonside is by Yellow Book Ltd undercreative commons.

More here

Plymouth teen is youngest bus driver in the country

 

A TEENAGER from Plymouth has become the youngest bus driver in the country to qualify in his profession. Aidan Barratt, aged 18, of Plymouth Citybus has become the youngest driver in England to qualify in a Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (Driver CPC)

Plymouth teen is youngest bus driver in the country

This story from This is Plymouth - and therefore The Evening Herald, has attracted no less than 67 comments as I type this up. Its amazing how a fairly low key, minor story can attract so much interest, and looking at some of the comments, such rubbish too!


"it is not a case of not giving youngsters a chance, but as I said, most City Buses are full to capacity in rush hour and I think this is too much for him at this age and I am quite entitled to express my concerns and worries. Yes, he may have passed the exams but that doesn't give him the working experience. Do you travel to work by bus in rush hour, I suspect not!"

"He's an inspiration to us all" Please!!!!!! No wonder Plymouth is the laughing stock of the country, if this is classed as a great achievement. What with "Face of Plymouth" and the "First Teenage Bus Driver", its all getting a bit too exciting for me down here, I'll have to go back to the smoke!

and my favourite

Will we get cheap fares when he's driving then?

I rarely bother to look at the This is Plymouth web site these days, especially as since the last revamp its really hard to keep up to date with local news - which is surely the whole point of the site. The indexing is rubbish with old stories coming up on the first pages so its possible to miss stories on lower pages. When you do find stories of interest you then get the joy of the comments. Anyone who has visited my own Penguin Food Blog will know I am no stranger to expressing strong views, many of which seem to go against the general trends but I think I am normal compared to some of the 'public' out there on the This is Plymouth site!

Well done to Aidan for passing and to Citybus for giving him the chance and getting him through the course.

(Photo credit:sarflondondunc)

Stagecoach in South Brent

Stagecoach Devon have a nice little notice on their web site giving details that the route and timetable on the X38 will change from the 13th October 2008. The announcement is actually under the "Tickets and Offers" heading rather than the "Service Information" heading which could cause confusion. It would also have been useful if there was a link to the new timetable page in this box to save people having to hunt it down.

The good news is that the hourly timetable is maintained while the bad news is that the bus is going through South Brent. Now I have nothing against South Brent and I guess that if you want to go to South Brent then this new diversion is good news for you. However, if like the vast majority of passengers you just want to get to Exeter direct from Plymouth then it does add over 10 minutes to the journey taking it to over an hour and a half. The other change, not highlighted in the publicity, is that the service no longer serves the Warner Village which seems to save 2 minutes from the timetable!

Most journeys are now provided by Enviros although Tridents still appear quite often. Indeed from what I have heard, the Tridents are a bit faster and more suited to the route. Its a shame that they are bus seated and not coach seated as its a long time to be sitting on a bus seat. The older Volvo coaches may have been dull and had the arrogance of insisting that passengers had to climb a few steps to reach their seats, but they were very comfortable once you were onboard.

Sunday Best: AHT206J

©Ian Kirby (More)

New to Bristol Omnibus, passed to Badgerline and later became part of the Badger Vectis fleet. Acquired by Western National for use on tendered services in the Torquay area - subsequently to Southern National, Smiths of Portland before passing into preservation.

These appeared on the streets of Plymouth for a short while and were great fun to ride on. Very well presented at the time.

Missing the Target?

If you go up to Derriford Hospital, or The George, you wont have to wait long to see a Target Travel bus. In fact they are now out and about more than they ever have and seem to be picking up more work each month. They seem to be popular with passengers even though some of their older buses are not up to the high standards of the rest of the fleet.

So why on their web site are they so shy about telling us what services they run? I know some of them are on behalf of First but there is no reason why they cant at least link to First timetables from their own pages for completeness.
Where are the timetables for their Northern Connect services?

This is not meant as a big dig at Target as I am a loyal customer of theirs often staying at work a little later to catch their bus home. I want more passengers to catch their buses -but if they don't know where they are going then they wont catch them.
More and more people are turning to the Internet to find timetable information. It may be just me, but I often think its better not have an Internet site at all than one which seems neglected and out of date.

Up the road, a while back

Sadly there are non from Plymouth, bus a great collection of photographs from the 1950's including many from Exeter and Devon General have been posted on Fotopic by Mike Morant. Taster below but click HERE for the full page to view these at full size. Its worth the visit!

Another new advert bus

Its not just Citybus who are happy to plaster adverts over the windows of their buses. First D&C have just placed 48229 in this eyecatching scheme seen here at Derriford Hospital yesterday evening.

Lunch time at Crownhill

I had to pop down to Crownhill Village this lunchtime for an 'emergency pasty'. Once the pasty was safely out of the way, I got the camera out and watched the traffic go by. This is just a taster of what I caught on camera. As usual you can click on any image for a larger view on my Flickr account.

Emergency, well kind of

We had our first proper fire evacuation today since moving into our Derriford Business Park office building. It seems that the automatic system detected a fire so we all had to leave and stand outside for half an hour.

Fortunately it was a lovely day and nice and warm outside. It took a while but eventually we had one of Crownhill's appliances turn up and conduct a quick check of the building to make sure it was safe to return. Sadly it was so back to work. At least it broke the day up a bit.

I cant say that it was this one for certain, but it was one of the same batch.

Plymothian Bridges: Coombe Viaduct

This is actually the second viaduct over this creek carrying the Cornwall Railway line out from Saltash (left) and on into Cornwall. It was opened 19th October 1894.

A stunning photo of the viaduct:

©AndyWelshman (Flickr Blog this). See his other Saltash bridges photos HERE They really are brilliant.

From the Cyberheritage collection we get this great aerial view from the very early 1980's

The New Look!

Well it seems to have gone quite smoothly, after a few scares along the way, but the new look has finally been rolled out. The main aim was to give more room for the actual blog postings, and moving all the extra bits to the bottom of the page. This helps keep the look clean and tidy and also allows for larger photos, and more flexible layouts within each post. It should also finally look the same in both Firefox and Explorer and the new Google Chrome browser.

There may well be a few extra slight changes to be made as I correct any outstanding issues but hopefully all is working well and I can get back to concentrating on the content again. As usual any comments are welcome!

Watch this space

Lots of work behind the scenes over this last weekend (sadly unable to go to Winkleigh).
A new design has been created and all being well will be rolled out in the early part of this week. This might lead to a few hiccups to begin with but these should settle quickly.

Sunday Best: BDV267C

©Sou'Wester More here

Western National BDV267C Brstol FLF on the 7.

Stars of the shows: 643HAA

643HAA is a very tidy little Bedford J2 with Plaxton Embassy 18 seat body new in 1963
It looked slightly different back in 2006: